Unchartered
by captainohcaptain12
Summary: That promo from 4x16 is killing me with anticipation. Speculation based upon the promo and spoilers - Killian being thrown back into water can only mean one thing, right? Being saved by the Savior of course!


AN: Well that promo…that PROMO. Why can it not be Sunday? Why do I have to have work and real life get in the way of obsessing over this show? Ugh. These questions I have!

Anywhoooo - here is a bit of angst (because I'm procrastinating on my case studies for work) that has to do with the promo and pure speculation.

Short and quick little one chapter thingy. I dunno. Ha! I have no idea where this came from - but only if life could be this neat and tidy (and you know - short and to the point, haha!)

T - because there is foul language. Ye been warned.

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"Have a nice swim, Captain!"

Panic seized at his chest as one of the Sea Witch's tentacles slimed across the front of his chest, tightening - squeezing - forcing the air out of his lungs. Gasping for one more breath, Killian opened his mouth to sputter out one last plea before he felt his body go weightless. Darkness pressed into the corners of his eyesight and as the world began to turn he could only think one thought.

_Swan_.

_She was going to be bloody pissed with him. _

The cold water hit his body with such force he was sure his teeth had shattered out of his skull, his muscles spasming against the tentacle tethered to his waist. Brightly colored spots danced and swirled around him as he struggled to grasp his hook against her flesh with no avail. The sea had always been a comfort to him, the salty breeze and unchartered depths calming him - it was his home. _It seemed fitting for a pirate to be his final resting pla—NO - he wasn't going to let her down, he had promised - given his word_.

The icy waters churned as his body began to go limp…

_Emma. _

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Clutching the steaming styrofoam cup in with one hand and brown paper sack in her other, Emma nudged open the door with her boot. Blinking against the rays of sunlight that assaulted her eyes, she sightlessly stepped down the few stairs leading up to the entrance of the diner only to run in a solid something with an _oomf_. The sack dropped to the ground and Emma grabbed a hold with her now free hand to cling on to the arm of whomever was standing in front of her to right herself back into the standing position.

"Dammit!" The coffee cup lid had popped off and her hand was now clutching a cracked cup, dark amber liquid running in spirally veins down her wrist into her jacket cuff.

"Emma! Where in the hell have you been?"

Looking up from the spilled pastry bag, Emma was greeted with a harried looking Regina glaring at her with wild eyes. Behind Regina her parents stood looking just as frazzled, eyes wide with deep set concern that instantly set Emma on edge.

"What do you mean? What's going on? Has something happ—" She found her self clutching Regina's arm a bit harder, fingernails piercing into the other woman's leather jacket.

"We've been trying to reach you! We need to get down to the harbor — now." Something in her heart pattered and then dropped deep into her chest as a panic enveloped her senses, heightening them and electrifying her body.

"Has something happened with the trio?"

"Now is not the time to play catch - up! Let's just leave it as your doe-eyed pirate has managed to tick off one of them!"

"Killian?"

"Who else do you know that walks around like that? Now let's go before he becomes fish food for good!"

"Emma, honey, we are right behind you." Snow's voice trembled and it was then that Emma began to move.

Her quads strained with each stride, her lungs screaming for a reprieve as she lengthened each step. Coming through the alleyway that backed up to the harbor, Emma shuffled to a stop as she gazed upon the docks for a sign of unrest. Reaching into her back holster, she pulled the gun and clicked back the safety.

"There - over there!" David wheezed, pointing towards the left of the harbor on a small ship. From the distance Emma could make out the figure of a woman - Jesus, were those tentacles?! — and the hunched figure of Killian. She didn't even realize her body had begun moving again and that words were ripping from her chest, screaming his name frantically. Gone were the sounds of David on her heels (he'd been the only one that had kept up), but instead only the wind whistled in her ears as she found herself lurching towards the docks.

Her hands pulsated and tingled with pure magic, she was nearly there…she could just barely make out the words as she neared.

"Have a nice swim, Captain!" She heard Ursula's raspy voice chuckle out and in a heart stopping moment, Killian was flung off the ship by one of the woman's large tentacles. Fear gripped every muscle, bone, and fiber in her body as his body rag dolled across the rail of the ship, a sickening splash deafening her.

It was _then_ that she realized she was screaming. A feeling so strong ripped through her in that moment, blinding and completely enveloping, and it was then that she knew what it was like to want to hurt. To want to kill.

"You bitch!" Her lip snarled as the words came rushing out of her mouth.

A white light enshrouded her and there was an ear splitting crack as her magic unleashed towards the Sea Witch and Emma heaved as the magic poured from her. It seemed to last forever and yet so quickly the moment was over as a heavy hand jerked back her shoulder.

"Emma - you are stronger than this. We can still save him!" Her father's words doused her anger as quickly as it had come.

Killian. Oh god, she had to get to him.

Turning towards the rail of the dock, Emma scanned the sea below her for a sign of where he had went in shrugging off her jacket as she did so. Using her foot to kick off one of her boots, she quickly hobbled out of the second.

"You can't Emma, you'll drown! Let me help, please."

"Get a liferaft and get out of my way!" The shrillness of her voice must have relayed something to him for he simply nodded, shuffled back on his feet, and turned quickly to grab the life raft that was attached to the dock.

Climbing up to the top of the dock rail, Emma dove herself into the ocean. The icy water stung at her skin, tightening the muscles and lighting up every cell. Her clothes sagged against her skin, billowing against her as she pumped her legs to propel herself further down the ocean depths. She couldn't lose him. She just couldn't. He had told her that he was a survivor, but it seemed like at every turn he wound up nearly getting himself killed. She wasn't going to lose him to a damn squid. Her eyes stung against the salty waters and the murky depths blurred her vision as she reached blindly in front of her. Her chest tightened from the lack of oxygen and panic as she began to wildly flail her legs and arms.

Where the fuck was he?

Spinning around she turned to face towards where the ship had been docked and it was then she saw a shimmer as the sunlight streamed through and a flash of something dark. Kicking her legs and stretching her arms in front of her, Emma swam towards the object.

His chin sagged towards his chest, his heavy leather coat dragging him towards the ocean floor. His arm was outstretched towards the surface, hook uselessly pointing towards the sky.

Oh god, oh god, oh god. Her limbs protested against her as she finally reached him and she pulled up on him, reaching her arm across his chest to pull from behind. She was nearly out of air and she could see the tunnel vision beginning, creeping in to the corners and threatening to take her under. Struggling against the weight of his body, she continued to pull him towards the surface - the water was becoming warmer and lighter with each kick.

She was nearly there. She could make it. They'd make it. Her fingertips reached out towards the surface, the bitter air biting against her skin as it broke free from the waters…

It was then that a a cramp seized up her calve muscle and sent a piercing pain radiating up her entire limb - and Emma felt herself lose her grip on him nearly, struggling against the weight and her breathlessness. Her body began to sink and the panic once again welled up inside of her - she couldn't breathe - she couldn't hang on any longer…

Her body, broke free of the surface - weightless, and she hit the deck of the boat hard with a thundering thwack. Gasping and heaving deep breaths, Emma flipped the drenched tendrils of hair away from her eyes to frantically search for Killian. Regina was hunched over his form, muttering something incoherently. David was kneeled to the other side of him, concern etched deep into the lines of his face. Snow was the one clinging onto the back of Emma, running soothing circles across her back.

"Is he alright?"

Emma crawled across the deck, shrugging off the cries of Snow and inched her way towards his prone form - laying her eyes upon him, she felt a deep shudder run across her spine that had nothing to do with the cold - and she fought back a sob. The dark stubble of his beard stood in stark contrast to the pasty white skin of his slack face, blue tinged lips parted as though he was about to speak. Raven locks clung to his forehead and once again, like so many months ago with Zelena, his form lay lifeless. David reached towards her as though to hug her and Regina still sat hunched over his chest, mumbling rapidly.

She pushed her father's hands away and flung herself in font of him.

"Start CPR for Christ's sake!" Her hands began to pump against his chest frantically - thrusting in and out - arms straining against the pressure.

"Don't you dare, Killian Jones. Don't you fucking dare!" There was so much unsaid. So much left to do and say and she had wasted time by not telling him how she truly felt. She'd be damned if she didn't get the last word in. In that moment - she thought of him. His sapphire eyes, deep like the depths of sea, and his smile when he sees her at the end of the long day - brilliant and bright - as though she is the reason the world turns…his scent of leather and rum…his laugh after he's mastered a particularly intricate modern object…

"Emma, let me help!" David's hands forced hers out of the way and she found herself once again, like a bad case of deja vu, getting ready to breathe into his lungs. Cupping his chin in her trembling hands, she forced his chin back.

"Don't leave me. Come back." She whispered as she reached her lips down to breathe into him. As her lips touched his, something happened - this overwhelming feeling of peace filled her soul, her mind, and her heart - and every single hair on her body stood to attention as her body ignited with a fierce electricity. There is a shock as her lips pressed against his and a tremor racked her body, a flash of light once again enveloping her body. A warm tenderness relaxed her muscles and she closed her eyes as she pressed a bit firmer against his lips — only to feel them parting against hers. _What in the hell was that?_

A deep wracking cough rattled through his chest and his eyes pop open wildly, head flinging to the side as water sputtered from his lips. Cradling his head in her lap, her fingers caressed the locks behind his ears and she whispered into his ear.

"Let it out, get it out. You're going to be okay, Killian." His chest heaved once more as sputum escaped his still tinged lips. The color was beginning to flood back into his face, splotches of warm redness tinging his cheekbones. Emma pushed herself further on her knees, ignoring the intense - and assuredly curiously nosey - glances from her parents and Regina - and used her sore arms as leverage to pull his head and torso closer to her lap. His hooked limb laid limp at his side still and his chest moved quickly in short bursts as he tried to catch his breath. His other hand still clutched onto Emma's, white knuckled and cold. Emma rubbed her fingers soothingly on the damp hair at the nape of his neck and scanned her eyes upon his face.

She wasn't entirely sure what had just happened other than he went from not breathing and most definitely not alive - to very much alive and looking at her with the most intense gaze she'd ever seen him give. His eyes went dark with an emotion she couldn't quite place, though it resembled close to shock and amazement. Swallowing down a gulp that had lodged itself in her throat, she struggled to find words under the heat of his look.

"Don't you dare say you're a survivor to me or I swear I'll throw you back over." There was an edge to it that she hadn't meant to be there, clipping her words short and ragged. She sucked in another gulp of the bitter air and forced a tight smile onto her face to relay it was supposed to be a joke. It was just like her - to make a joke after something so serious and absolutely life defining had occurred, wasn't it? Emma wasn't necessarily the biggest believer in all things fairy tale world - but she'd have to be dumber than a box of hair to not know that something entirely epic had just occurred. It seemed from the slack jawed expressions of her parents and the bemused, very much arched eyebrow face of Regina that something very big had happened indeed.

Shit.

Killian's eyes flashed with recognition for a brief moment before crinkling into a lighthearted grin and it was then that Emma let out an incredibly loud shuddering laugh that seemed to fill her chest with a warmth she'd never felt before. He let out another wet sounding cough before using his hooked arm to hoist his body into the sitting position, shuffling Emma's body to arch towards his. His ringed hand, still cold and damp with the salty sea, cupped her chin and pointed her face towards her. Another crinkle of his eyes and an eyebrow waggle as he lowered his face towards hers, letting out a shaky breath. Feeling her own breath hitch in her chest, she opened her mouth to quickly form another joke before things got too serious only to be cut off mid gape by his tender kiss.

After a long moment, he broke away, his eyes still closed as he brushed his forehead against her own.

"As you wish, love, as you wish."


End file.
